I have worked for Jewel for eight years. For approximately six and a half of those years, I have been a Chef's Kitchen Manager. The job consists of fast paced food management and customer service.
On 2/1/09, which was Super Bowl Sunday, I received a phone call at 9:45 am asking me to come to work earlier than my scheduled 11:00 to 7:00 shift. I was off the day before using a pre-arranged vacation day to help save payroll. I was told that the department was very behind and very busy. When I arrived at work, I went straight to my department to start working. I did not check the time upon my arrival and I thought that I was 15 minutes earlier than my 11:00 start time. The time clock does not allow anyone to clock in earlier than what is in the computer. Since we were busy and I thought that I was early, I knew that I could not use the time clock without finding a store manager that had the code to override the time clock. We were busy all day. At 6:45 pm, I was doing some work at my desk, when the assistant manager came into the office. I asked him to clock me in since they called me in early so that I could clock out. He did, so I clocked out. I went back to my department to tell my crew about what they needed to do for the rest of the evening and left. The assistant manager also wrote a statement saying that he saw me return to the sales floor. I worked my entire 8 hour shift.
On 2/2/09, I was scheduled to work from 10:00 to 6:00. I did not arrive until 10:05. I again went straight to work. I had an order that needed to be written and sent as well as get to a mandatory manager meeting by 10:30. I had to look for my order guide, both downstairs and upstairs, since other orders were written and sent before I arrived. I checked my holding cooler, which is downstairs, and went back upstairs to write my order. When I was leaving for the day, I tried to clock out. I then realized that I never clocked in so I went back to my department, talked to my crew about what needed to be done that evening and the following day since it was my day off for the week. I left at 6:20. I worked my entire 8 hour shift.
On 2/4/09, I started at 12:00 pm. We had a lot of customers at the counter since it was lunch time. The service desk called the department. They wanted to know what time I worked on 2/2/09 since I didn't clock in. I told her to clock me in for what I was scheduled and went back to work. It is one of my responsibilities to verify hours worked. They routinely call from the service desk to ask about hours worked when someone doesn't use the time clock, so I never thought about the situation again.
On 2/9/09, I was again writing an order, when the co-manager approached me and said that they wanted me to go up front to the service desk and sign the Time and Attendance sheets. He said they only want department managers to sign them and would not allow my back up to do it. We had not been signing these papers for several months and he said that we may be getting an audit at any moment and wanted them done immediately. I went to the service desk and signed where they had highlighted for me to sign without reading the papersOn 2/11/09, the co-manager called me on the phone and said someone wanted to speak to me in the office. I went downstairs and saw that it was security. He told me that I was accused of stealing time. Asked me to write a statement, which I did, and told me they would respond by 2/16/09.
On 2/18/09, the co-manager called me on the phone to tell me to schedule someone for the following morning from 7:30 to 11:30 to cover part of my shift because someone was coming in to see me about the upcoming remodel for the kitchen. On 2/19/09, I clocked in and went to my shop. My back up told me that the store manager wanted to see me in her office. I went downstairs and she called me into her office where she and the co-manager were and told me to shut the door.She told me that they had some bad news for me. They decided to terminate me. That was the first time that she spoke to me about the entire issue.
I have honored the store policies and adjusted my time accordingly so no overtime was charged to the store. I did not clock out some days because I was leaving late due to the work, which they were aware of, and did not write me up for. There were also many days that managers would clock me out to adjust my time so that I would not get overtime even though I was leaving 15 to 45 minutes late. I took pride in my job, my abilities and was a dedicated employee. I have never been paid for time that I did not work. I have never adjusted the time clock to pay myself for time that I did not work nor have I ever had anyone else adjust the time clock for me so that I would get paid for time that I did not work. I worked 8 hours on both days in question. I have not received any overtime since the week ending 11/29/08. I worked a 13 hour shift and that was at the request of the store manager.
In late January of 2009, I filed a grievance against them because they refused to pay me for my 3 vacation days from the previous year even though I did not take them because of things happening in the store such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and my crew needing to take their remaining vacations. My store manager knew that I was having a difficult time getting those days in before the end of the year. We discussed it and it was decided that I would take one each week after the first week in January since my back up was on vacation, to help save payroll. A couple of weeks later, I was accused of stealing time and was fired.
On 2/19/09, the day I was fired, I immediately filed for unemployment benefits. I had a phone interview about a question concerning my eligibility for unemployment on 3/6/09. I received a letter dated 3/13/09 stating that I was eligible for unemployment benefits. I received another letter in late April stating that Jewel was appealing the decision and the issues being considered were whether it was a timely protest by my employer, whether it was filed within the 30 day time limit and whether or not I showed misconduct at work. The date on the appeal is 4/23/09. 40 days past the day I was approved for unemployment benefits.
My union filed a grievance about my termination, saying it was in retaliation for the grievance about my vacation days. They tell me that they are confident they will get my job back but I will need to make concessions, such as no back pay and loss of my position and rate of pay. My union is also negotiating a new contract with the company at this time.
&nbs...
